Cable-grip for tram-cars.



H; o. oFsTAD. CABLE GRIP IOR TEAM GARS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 21,1908. 905,21 7. Patented Dec. 1, 1908.

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Y CABLE GRIP F01;V TEAM aus.

` APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 21, 1908. Y

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Patented Dec.. 1, 1908. n

.f IIAnTvIGo. orsTAD, OF SUPERIOR, WISCONSIN.

CABLE-GRIP Fon TEAM-GARS.

i `Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 1, 1908.

. Application filed September 21, 1908. Serial No. 453,959.

To all whom it 'may` conccrmf.

Be it known that I, IIARTVIG O. OFs'rAD, a citizenr of the UnitedStates, residingin Superior, in the county of Douglas and State ofWisconsin, have invented certain new and useful .Improvements in .CableGrips for Tram-Cars, of whichthe followingis aspecication. v

My invention relates `to cable-grips for tram-cars of the classin whichthe cable is grasped by jaws which are opened and closed bylever-mechanism and the objects of my invention are to provide improvedmechanism whereby the jaws may be more conveniently operated and moresecurely locked to the cable, novel means for holding the cable inposition between the jawsand improved devices for adjusting themechanism for. operating the jaws. J Y.

In carrying out my invention. I attach .to one end of the tram-car aplate. or frame, to the vupper end of which is' pivotally connected asupporting plate, throughthe lower portion of which extends a pivot-rodwhich also extends through a curved slot in the lower end of thestationary frame-plate. The swinging supporting'plate is provided withdownwardly extending arms which serve to prevent the cable fromrisingfrom proper position between the jaws, which latter are pivotallymounted on the pivot-rod above referred to. A vertical bar is supportedby the lower. portion of the swinging supporting frame and this bar isthreaded at its lower portionand carries a nut, on which rests a block,carrying. the pivot-pin for the v inner ends of the adjustable linksconnecting the upper ends of the upwardly projecting arms or Shanks ofthe aws. This pivot-pin is connected by links with an operating-leverjointed to a block mounted on the threaded upper end of the vertical barbefore referred to. The arrangement is such that by turning saidvertical bar, the block on the threaded upper end .thereof may be raisedand lowered for a purpose hereinafter explained. The connections betweenthe operating-lever, the upwardly projecting arms orshanks of the jawsand the pivot-pin for the links connect-y ing these shanks, is such thatthe jaws may be easily and quickly opened and closed and when closedthey will be'securely locked, the links being sol adjusted that when`the jaws are made to Vgrip lthe cable, the axis lof the pivot-pin whichconnects theinner ends of the axes ofthe pivots which connect the outerends of the links with the jaw-Shanks and in likegmanner theoperating-lever is so connected bv llnks with the links `the jaw-shanks, that when the jaws are' gripped to` the cable, the axis ofthe pivotpin at the lower rend of said vertical links is slightly to`one side of a vertical plane passing `through the upper pivot point ofsaid vertical links, and in this manner the jaws are doubly locked andsome additional power is required to start the` operating-lever in orderto free the jaws,`the operation thereafter'being comparatively easy. Thehorizontal links connecting theupper ends of the jawLshanks areadjustable in length to compensate for, `the wear on the shoes of thejaws necessarily varies the movement of the pivotpin 'wliichconnectstheir inner ends, I have provided for `the positive vertical adjustmentof this pivot-.pin by the turning of the vertical bar above referred to,which changes vertically the'position ofsaid pin in the manner abovedescribed. y In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows` a frontelevation of a `cable-grip constructed in accordance with my invention,a tram-car to which it is applied being indicated by dotted lines. Fig.2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. V3 shows a vertical centralsection on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Figli `is a perspective view of theswinging supporting plate. Fig. 5 shows a, front elevation of the`stationary frame-plate. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the pivot-blockand pivot-pin to. which the inner ends of the horizontal links and thelower ends of the vertical, links above referred to are connected. Fig.7 is a perspective view of a nut-locking device which may be employed.

The stationary frame-plate A, shown detached in Fig. 5, may be bolted,riveted or otherwise. suitably secured to the end of a tram-car B,preferably midway lbetween the wheels. The plate A is enlarged at itslower end and has a curved slot a. The vertical supporting plate C,shown in perspective in F ig.` 4, has la laterally projecting upper endportion or head c, and a lower arm c. J ust abovellthe upper end of thislower arm `o', is secured another arm o2, as indicated in Figs. `Zand 3..The arms c, 02, are designed to prevent the cable X from rising out ofthe links will be slightly below the plane of.

connecting proper position to be gripped by the jaws. The supportingplate C is connected to the upper end of the stationary plate A, bymeans of a bolt D andthe plate C is adapted to swing on this bolt. Theplate C is also connected with the plate A by means of a y bolt E, whichextends through the arms c2,

c., and through t-he curved slot a of the stationary plate. A verticalrod F is attached at its lower end to the arm c2 and at its upper end ithas a boss f, mounted to turn in the head or flange c, at the upper endof the swinging plate C. lt is also provided with a head f, by means ofwhich it may be turned. rlhe lower portion of the rod F is threaded atf2, and carries an adjustable nut f3, on which is supported a block G,carrying a forwardly projecting pivot-pin g. rlhe upper portion f4 ofthe rod F, is threaded and operates in a correspondingly threaded holein the pivot carrying block H. The gripping jaws are pivotally mountedon the pivot-bolt E. They have shoes z' for grippingthe cable and theyhave wearingplates to prevent the jaws themselves from being worn by thecable-guides. These wearing-plates may be readily removed and replaced.rllhe upwardly projecting arms or shanks J are connected bylinks K withthe pivot-bolt g. These links have adjusting vnuts K, by means of whichthey may be varied in length. The pivot-bolt g is connected by means oflinks L, L, and a pivotpin Z, with the vertically arranged arm m of theoperating-lever M, and the vertical arm m, of this lever is pivotallyconnected at its upper end n with the pivot-block H. The parts are soarranged that when the lever M is raised the aws are made to open. Whenthe lever is depressed, the jaws are closed upon and grip the cablesecurely. The relative lengths of the links L, L', and K are such thatwhen the lever M is depressed to its futl extent, the axis of thepivot-pin g will be below the horizontal plane ofthe axes of the pivotsj, which connect the links K with the upper outer ends of the shanks Jand the aXis of the pin g will be to one side of the axis of thepivot-pin Z and at that time the lever M will rest on the upper end ofone of the shanks J. In this way the jaws are not only made to grip thecable securely, but they are locked in this position and cannotaccidentally be moved therefrom. When the jaws are designedly opened by`the lever, it is first necessary to shift the positions of thepivot-pins Z and g relatively to a vertical plane and then to raise thepivot-pin g to a higher horizontal plane before the gripping action isreleased. rPhe first movement of the lever operates to impart additionalpressure to the grip but immediately after this, this pressure isrelieved and then by a further upward movement of the lever the jaws areopened. This double locking of the jaws is found to be most secure andetlicient.

.is before stated, the links K may be adjusted in length to accommodatethe wearing away of the shoes z' but any such adjustment of the links Kwill interfere with the locking operation above referred to and in orderto compensate for this the pivot-pin g/ is made vertically adjustable bymeans of the rod F. By turning this rod, the pivotblock H may be raisedand lowered and thus correspondingly, by the connections shown, adjustthe position of the pin g, so that the relative arrangement of the partsmay be preserved to obtain the locking action before referred to.

In order to prevent the sleeve nuts K from turning after they are onceset, lV prefer to employ nut-locking devices such as shown inperspective in Fig. 't' and also indicated in Figs. l, 2 and 3. Asshown, cach of these devices consists of a plate O having laterallyprojecting lugs 0 at one end and a hole o at the opposite end. Thepivot-pin g extends through the hole 0, while the lugs o extend partwayacross the sleeve nut in the manner indicated. Two such devices t) areemployed as indicated and they overlap at their connection with the ping.

By the construction shown, the cable is prevented from rising out ofproper position to be engaged by the shoes of the jaws. The jaws may beeasily adjusted to compensate for all vwear on the shoes and to causethem to at all times grip the cable securely, the aws are not only madeto securely grasp the cable when the lever is operated but the fullforce of this grasping action is preserved by the locking mechanismbefore described and this locking action is made available, whatever bethe adjustment of the devices for compensating for wear on the slices.All of the working parts of the mechanism are mounted on a swingingframe which moves freely when passing around curves, doing away with allside stresses on the grip and car when rounding curves or traversinguneven tracks. On curves, the grip swings past the cable-guides withouttending to crowd the car as would otherwise be the case.

I claim as my invention 1. A, cable-grip comprising a supportingframefree to swing sidewise, gripping-jaws pivotally connected therewith, anoperatinglever pivotally connected with the swingingframe, and linkconnections between the operating-lever and the jaws.

2. A cable-grip.comprising a supportingframe, gripping-jaws pivotallyconnected therewith, adjustable, horizontally-arranged links pivotallyconnected with each other and with the upper outer ends of the jaws, anoperating-lever pivot-ally connected with the frame and link connectionbetween the operating-lever and the inner ends of thehorizontally-arranged links.

3. A cable-grip comprising a supportingframe, grippingjaws pivotallyconnected therewith, adjustable, horizontally-arranged links ivotallyconnected `with the upper ends ot the jaw-Shanks, a pivot-pin connectingthe inner ends of the links with each other', an operating-lever, alinkconnecting the operating-lever with `the pivot-pin of the horizontallinks ofsuch lengththat when the lever is operated to close thegrip theaxis of the pivot-pin which connects the inner ends of the horizontallinks will be below the aXes of the'pivots of the outer ends of thelinks and the axis of said inner pivotpin will be to one side of theaxis of the connection between the upper end of the vertical link andthe operating-lever.

4. A cable-grip comprising a supportingframe, gripping-jaws pivotallyconnected therewith, horizontally-arranged links connecting the upperends of the jaw-Shanks with each other, means for adjusting the lengthsof said links, an operating-lever, a vertically adjustable block towhich it is connected, and a link' connection between `the lever and theinner ends of the horiried by said vertical bar, an operating-leverpivotally connected therewith, and link connections' between saidoperating-lever and the pivot-pin of'said horizontal links.

6. A cable-grip comprising a stationary frame-plate, a swingingsupporting-frame having downwardly projecting arms to prevent the cablefrom rising, gripping-jaws pivotally connected with the supporting-`frame, and mechanism for operating the gripping-jaws.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

HARTVIG O. OFSTAD. Witnesses:

H. H. GRACE, HELEN A. HILL.

